Kremlin: Yeltsin Had Several Heart Attacks

November 28, 1998|By From Tribune News Services.

MOSCOW — For the first time, the Kremlin acknowledged Friday that President Boris Yeltsin has a history of heart attacks and, in language unusual for its bluntness, said they have compromised his health.

Doctors have long said that Yeltsin suffered a heart attack during his 1996 re-election campaign, and Russian media have reported that he has had as many as five.

But Kremlin aides had gone to great lengths to portray Yeltsin's health in the best possible light before the remarks Friday by a Yeltsin spokesman, Dmitry Yakushkin.

"In 1996, the president was working through several heart attacks while carrying out a very active election campaign," Yakushkin said at a news conference.

The past ailments, combined with the "emotional, physical and psychological pressure endured by the president, are taking its toll" and make it harder for Yeltsin to overcome routine illnesses such as the flu, Yakushkin said.

Rarely has the Kremlin been so frank about the health of an incumbent.

Yeltsin aides previously had made a point of saying the frequent illnesses suffered by the 67-year-old leader in the past two years were unrelated to his heart condition. Yeltsin had heart bypass surgery in 1996.

Yeltsin has been hospitalized since Sunday, undergoing treatment for pneumonia, the latest in a series of illnesses that have raised concerns about his ability to serve out his term.

Yakushkin said Yeltsin's temperature was normal and his condition "satisfactory" on Friday. But he said doctors had told the president to stay in bed.

"He's partly bedridden, which means he spends some time in bed, but also moves around his room and works at the table," Yakushkin said, adding that the "president's activity has increased."

"He had several telephone conversations and considered several important documents," Yakushkin said.

Doctors banned Yeltsin from seeing visitors, fearing they may infect him with a flu virus going around the Russian capital, Yakushkin said.

The spokesman did not comment on when Yeltsin was expected to leave the hospital.

Yakushkin and Yeltsin's first deputy chief of staff, Oleg Sysuyev, continued to insist that the president was capable of performing his duties until his term ends in 2000.

Sysuyev dismissed suggestions that early presidential elections should be held, saying that would destabilize the nation. Several prominent Yeltsin supporters have joined his opposition in urging him to step down early.

Yeltsin rarely has appeared in public in recent months and has said little about the country's economic crisis.

Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov unveiled cuts in sales and profit taxes intended to tempt Russians into declaring more of their income for tax purposes. But that has left his finance minister and analysts skeptical that Moscow can counter rampant tax evasion and fund its 1999 budget.